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Jessica Smith's Total Stretch DVD contains three stretch workouts. Deep Stretch clocks in at 30 minutes. It is a slow moving stretch that starts from the top of the body (head and neck) and ends with stretches for the bottom of the body (feet).  The workout starts standing and ends seated. Almost every part of the body is hit during this stretch workout.  Please see attached spreadsheet for the sequence of stretches. Dynamic Stretch is 33 minutes in length.  This workout uses range of motion exercises to increase flexibility and to work on coordination and balance. This is not really a flowing workout, but a workout where you are dynamically moving in and out of an exercise for a few reps. It is about moving in a slow methodical way for several reps with the hopes of improving the elasticity of the body part you are working. I liked this workout.  It was my favorite of the three sessions. Total Stretch clocks in at 17 minutes. It is similar to Deep Stretch ...

Jessica Smith's Feel Good Fusion is a combination of cardio, strength, Pilates, barre and yoga fitness styles.  This DVD contains two workouts. The first workout is Fusion Strength and it is 47 minutes in length. Fusion Strength is a high rep workout that uses a light set of dumbbells. Jessica states the goal is to build strength without force.  Most of the moves in this workout requires big movements - reaching movements that aid in building endurance. For most of the workout it seems as if  you were doing some type or form of a squat whether single leg or double leg.  After the weight work, Jessica takes you through a standing abs, balance and coordination segment. The workout concludes with a stretch. The second workout is Flow Cardio . This workout clocks in at 35 minutes and does not use weights.  Flow Cardio is a lower intensity steady state cardio workout. Jessica uses big range-of-motion leg-based movement in this workout. The moves flow from one ...

Essentrics Full Body Workout Volume  3 is lead by Miranda Esmonde White.  It is a 60-minute workout if you do the whole workout. You can also break the workout into different segments. The DVD offers the following menu: Play Full Workout - 60 minutes Standing - 30 minutes Floor - 15 minutes Barre - 15 minutes Feet Workshop Floor Workshop Barre Workshop This is a traditional Essentrics workout. Miranda takes you through the standard Essentric Classical Stretch exercises.  Please see worksheet for a breakdown. In the workshop, Miranda uses this time to explain and offer detail and tips about how to either use certain equipment or to talk posture and positioning. The Feet Workshop clocks in at 3:38.  The Floor Workshop has a run time of 5:44 and the Barre Workshop is a short minute and 1/2 (1:29). Full Body Workout Volume 3 - 3 & 1/2 stars

Jillian Michaels Killer Cardio contains two 25-minute workouts.  The focus is on cardio and no equipment is required.  There is not a warm-up or rather Jillian uses the first circuit as the warm-up.  There are four circuits and four exercises per circuit. There is a stretch at the end. In this workout, you are doing 20 seconds on and 10 seconds rest.  Jillian explains the next exercise or offers tips during the rest. You repeat each circuit twice. The exercises vary. There are several floor-based exercises and some functional type exercises.  These workouts were not my favorite. Workout 1 - 3 stars Workout 2 -  2 & 3/4 stars

Jillian Michaels Lift and Shred contains two 30 minute strength workouts.  Jillian emphasizes that this is a strength workout and it is about lifting heavy. So unlike most of her workouts, most of the moves in Lift and Shred are single component moves.  Well, that is true for Workout 1 but Workout 2, does feature multiple compound moves. Both workouts start with a warm-up.  Then, you move onto the circuits. There are 4 circuits and each circuit features 4 exercises.  You repeat the exercises twice before moving on to the next circuit.  The workouts conclude with a stretch. Besides Jillian, there are two other cast members.  Jillian is really coaching and offering tips. She doesn't do much of the workout.  I found Jillian's interaction with the cast member a bit annoying but the workouts themselves I thought okay. Lift and Shred Workout 1 -  3 & 1/2 stars Lift and Shred Workout 2  - 3 stars

Gentle Yoga for Back Pain Relief and Prevention is Jessica Smith's newest yoga DVD.  This DVD contains two 30-minute workouts. Workout 1 called Session 1: Yoga for Back Pain Relief is a slow moving workout that uses several fitness tools to assist with the various poses included in this workout. Jessica performs the stretches in a variety of positions such as standing, kneeling, seated and lying.  Several postures are perform using a chair.  Jessica introduces modifications that are gentle to the back.  Other equipment used include a towel, yoga block, yoga strap and of course yoga mat. Workout 2 is Session 2:  Yoga for Back Pain Prevention. The postures used in this workout are slightly more dynamic than in the first workout.  There are more strength and flowing moves in this workout than the first. There is also an emphasis on balance. This workout uses the strap, a towel and a mat. Both workouts are filmed outdoors with a poolside setting. The ...

Essentrics Stretch Series Vol. 1 DVD includes three 30-minute workouts. Each of these workouts are slow moving workouts. Super slow. My biggest gripe about them is that the music in each of them is very faint. I could hear each of the instructors just fine but to hear the music I had to really increase the volume which in turn made the instructor super loud. The first workout is Tension Release and it is lead by Meg Feeney.  Meg does a lot of upper body full body range of motion movement.  She also does windmills, lunges, and plies that included shin and ankle work.  This workout uses a chair and in the chair segment, you are doing heel and calf work, as well as hamstring, quads, outer and inner thigh stretches.  This workout clocks in at 31:17. Joint Pain Relief clocks in just over 30 minutes and is lead by Gail Garceau.  In this workout, we do quite a bit of work for the back that includes standing back stretches and spine rotations.  Gail also i...